Quantifying the effect of historical soil management on soil erosion rates in Mediterranean olive orchards》.pdf

Agriculture, Ecosystems and Environment 142 (2011) 341–351 Contents lists available at ScienceDirect Agriculture, Ecosystems and Environment j o u r n a l h o m epage: w w w. elsev /lo ca t e /a ge e Quantifying the effect of historical soil management on soil erosion rates in Mediterranean olive orchards Tom Vanwalleghem a,∗ , Juan Infante Amate b , Manuel González de Molina b , David Soto Fernández b , José Alfonso Gómez a a Instituto de Agricultura Sostenible, CSIC (Córdoba), Apartado 4084, 14080 Cordoba, Spain b Universidad Pablo de Olavide (Sevilla), Spain a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t Article history: Olive orchards are an important agro-ecosystem in the Mediterranean. Soil erosion is a widely recognized Received 6 August 2010 threat to their sustainability. However, the variability of short-term soil erosion measurements and the Received in revised form 31 May 2011 limited understanding of driving processes result in a considerable uncertainty over the long-term effects Accepted 4 June 2011 of soil erosion. This study aims at measuring and modelling soil erosion rates in olive orchards over a Available online 29 June 2011 250-year period, and relating these to changes in management practices and yield, as documented from historical sources. In three study areas in S-Spain, the height of relic tree mounds was measured in olive Keywords: orchards dated between 153 and 291 years old to determine soil profile truncation. Measured average Environmental history